Lucas, you know, I've always believed...

that stories are written and forged in the stars...

so whenever you look up to see them, just remember...

how every star is a sun to someone.

Spring, 1989

On a beautiful sunny afternoon, young children were playing with each other in Melrose Elementary till it was time to head back home.

"They really like each other. They won't spend a minute apart," Ms. Grey, the kindergarten teacher, stated with a smile.

"They live close to each other, too," Mrs. Fisher, another teacher, smiled in addition.

"It would be nice if they could go to the same school."

"Stella is a year younger, but her birthday is in January, so they start the school year together."

"Yeah, but I wish they would get along just as well with other kids."

"Oh, it's almost time for the children to go home."

Meanwhile...

"Stella, wanna go play at my house today?" a kindergartner named Abbie asked.

"Huh?" five year old Stella wondered.

"No!" answered Lucas who was six years old. He walked in between the two young girls with his hands on his hips, giving Stella's answer for her. Turning around, Lucas held Stella's hands and said, "Let's go home, I'll walk you."

"Okay," Stella smiled, holding Lucas' hands.

"See?" Ms. Grey pointed out in amusement.

"Ms. Grey," Lucas started, walking up to his teacher. "May I walk Stella home?"

"Sure thing, but you have to take the school bus, okay?" she replied and smiled.

"Okay. Thank you," Lucas smiled and bowed his head in respect before returning back to Stella's side.

"Aww, Lucas is so mature," Mrs. Fisher commented happily. "He's such a good boy."

"He sure is," Ms.Grey added.

"He can be playful sometimes, but he never makes any trouble."

"It's too bad that they'll get older and end up growing apart. It's a shame."

"It would be nice if they could stay together forever..."

As soon as the bell sounded the end of another successful day of kindergarten, the kids were escorted to the front of the school and getting in line for the bus.

"Alright, everyone! It's time to go home," Ms. Grey announced. "Have a good day."

"Bye, Ms. Grey!" all the children smiled and waved as the bus closed the doors.

"Be good boys and girls. I'll see you tomorrow."

As everyone was getting seated on the bus...

"Hey! This is my and Stella's seat," Lucas stated, placing his hands on his hips like he's the boss to Ethan, a kindergartner from Mrs. Fisher's class.

"Oh... sorry..." Ethan said as he scrambled to gather his things to move to a different spot.

"Hehehe," Lucas laughed as he sticked out his tongue behind Ethan's back. Stella, who was behind him, laughed along with her best friend. "Sit down. Mommy said girls should sit inside."

The little star blushed as she sat herself deep in the bus seat, close to the window as Lucas plopped himself right next to her. "Okay!"

Looking at the rear mirror, the bus driver checked to make sure everyone was seated and safe. "Okay, here we go," announced the bus driver as he pulled off from the curb and drove off from the elementary school.

"Luc, who do you like most in class?" Stella asked, turning to her pal.

"What about you?" he questioned.

"Come closer."

"Huh? Why? Who is it?"

Lucas leaned himself closer to his friend and Stella placed her hand over his right ear, whispering, "It's you." She smiled to herself as she pulled away slightly and asked, "What... about you?"

"Me...?" Ummm..." Lucas rubbed his right ear and averted his eyes, blushing as his ears and cheeks turned bright red. "You."

Back then, the two of them didn't know what love meant.

They were just happy spending time together.

And...

They believed that such days would never end.

The bus slowly stopped in front of the stop near Stella's house, just two feet away as two close friends walked hand-to-hand to one's house.

"Luc, wanna come in and play?" Stella asked with a smile as her mother opened the door looking happy at the adorable sight of two kids.

"Now?" Luc wondered.

"Yes, Lucas, why don't you come in?" Stella's mom offered happily. "I can call your mom. You can have dinner with us too."

"Is it okay?" he asked worryingly.

"Of course! Stella loves playing with you," the mother smiled in addition as six year old blushed with the action of Stella pulling him inside her home, holding hand-to-hand.

Inside the house, the boy looked around the familiar place once again as his eyes fell across a family portrait of a family of three.

"Stella, are your parents nice to each other?" Luc asked as he touched the frame with his fingers.

"Of course!" Stella cheered. "My daddy loves my mommy and me the most in the whole world."

"Really? I see... That's really cool." Lucas pulled his fingers away from the frame and hung his head down low.

"What's wrong? Doesn't your daddy love your mommy too?" the five year old girl wondered.

"No..."

Stella felt the tension and tried to lighten the mood by grabbing her stuffed rabbit. Playing with the plushy on her lap, she asked, "Luc, who are you going to marry when you grow up?"

"Marry?" Luc asked, looking confused. "You mean become a daddy?"

"Yeah," she smiled, waving her plush bunny in front of his face.

"No! I won't get married," he stated, "because I have to protect my mom when I grow up."

"Then we can protect her together," she smiled.

"Together?"

"Yes! With me! Just like how you're protecting me now. We can get married and we can protect your mom together!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Wanna pinky swear?" Stella asked, letting out her right pinky in front of her and Luc. The boy then grasped the little finger with his pinky as he made eye contact with the shining star before his eyes.

"Okay, do you promise?" Stella asked with a bright smile.

"Yeah," Luc replied, smiling back as Stella leaned closer to him and kissed him on the cheek as he blushed, but smiled with embarrassment, holding her closer to him.

Sirens can be heard from miles away as the trucks and vehicles gathered around the building that caught on fire.

"THERE'S STILL CHILDREN IN THERE!"

"PLEASE HURRY! OH MY GOD..."

"THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION IN BASEMENT, BUT THERE'S AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RIGHT ABOVE THAT!!!"

"OH NO. THE KIDS! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

"CAN YOU CHECK ON THE CHILDREN?"

"STELLA AND LUCAS  MUST STILL BE INSIDE!"

"MS. GREY TOLD ME SHE THOUGH SHE SAW STELLA COMING OUT..."

"THIS IS BAD... WHERE'S LUCAS?"

"PLEASE HELP HIM! DID SOMEONE GO IN ALREADY?"

There's a saying that goes...

Take a life, you kill all.

Save a life... you save all.

There are times when we must choose our battles wisely.

If your enemy is stronger, is it wise to fight?

Knowing that you can lose everything.

I cannot take that risk.

I can feel the pain.

They are suffering.

The pain and agony of the two children.

I no longer hear their happiness...

only cries and lies.

It's unbearable...

but if we save one life.

It's not here... Where is the door?

"Hello? Anyone? Help!" Lucas shouted over the fire as he tried to find an exit.

Mom... I'm so scared. Please, someone help me!

Lucas walked towards a door as he coughed due to the fire.

"You can't go that way!" Stella yelled from behind. "Can you see my hand? It's hard to see, so you have to hold my hand."

"Okay. Cough... Cough..."

As soon as Lucas grabbed Stella's hand, the flames grew bigger and closer, almost engulfing the two. The walls felt like they were moving closer to each other as the lights from the ceilings started to fall down.

"Ahhh! Watch out!"

"Run!!!!"

"Don't let go."

"I won't."

"I won't either. I'm scared too."

"You too!"

"It's this way!"

"The door is right around here."

Running through the flames, the two kindergartners found an exit and ran towards it as they coughed together with the amount of hazardous gas and smoke in their lungs and in the air.

"Okay, let's hurry... cough! Hey! What's wrong?" Luc exclaimed as he saw Stella starting to fall down on his side. "Are you okay? Get on my back."

"I'm fine," Stella said, tightening her grip. "Let's hurry."

"Okay!"

That's how Stella saved Lucas...

And how Lucas protected Stella.

When Lucas and Stella held hands and ran for their lives,

they blame one and would never feel this way about anyone else ever again.

This moment repeated in their memories over and over again,

and it became a knot that could never be untangled.

"THEY'RE OUT!"

Coughing with pain, the two trapped kids made it out alive from the burning building and collapsed as soon as they stepped foot outside.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY! GET THEM SOME BLANKETS."

"A RESPIRATOR PLEASE! MOVE THEM TO THE AMBULANCE!"

"THE KIDS ARE OVER HERE... HURRY!"

Teachers, firefighters, police officers, and paramedics gathered around the kids who were on top of each other coughing and unresponsive.

"THEY SEEM OKAY BUT NOT FOR LONG. DID YOU CALL THEIR PARENTS?"

"YES, THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY."

"HELP THE GIRL FIRST."

"OKAY, BUT..."

"WHAT IS IT?"

"THEY WON'T LET GO OF EACH OTHER'S HANDS."

"REALLY? OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE RIGHT..."

"THEY'RE HOLDING ON SO TIGHTLY!"

"STELLA..."

"LUCAS..."

"GOSH, THEIR LITTLE HANDS ARE HELD SO FIERCELY."

"CAN YOU TAKE THEM TOGETHER?"

"POOR KIDS... THEY MUST HAVE BEEN SCARED TO DEATH..."

"LUCAS! WAKE UP!"

"STELLA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"THEY MUST HAVE RELIED ON EACH OTHER..!"

They say hearing is the last sense to go before you die.

If that's true...

then,

is hearing the first sense to awaken when you're born?

God?

Why?

Why do we suffer so much for love?

Is this...

our fate?

Can you hear me?

God?

If you're listening...

hear my call.

Winter, 2003

The wind is shaking the snow-covered evergreen trees and over my body. The stars fill up the sky, shining brightly with too many to count. The stars reassure tires me as they wipe away the many tears that are deep inside me. Telling me, "Don't be hurt too much..." while they hug me tight and pamper me and comfort me, telling me to go to sleep though I'm exhausted to the point where I can't walk. Though my tears blur my vision, I'll still smile in front of my love that I'm not able to get.

The small flare of the lighten candles on the cake dances to the colors of the wind. The light glows in the dark where the warmness kindles from a tiny spark. It is soft at first, then, it grows bright. For some, it grows over time. For me, it's love at first sight. If the candlelight is not taken care of, the flame will slowly die and when it's gone, it leaves me sitting there, wondering... why?

My body lies on the blanket of white-- a symbolism of mourning and death, but also tranquility and beauty. Silent snow comes down bit by bit with delicacy that makes the clocks move slow; falling down with no weight and no noise, covering everything with its pure and silent covering.

I look beyond the speckled white powder where on this cold January night, there shines the pale pearl and diamonds of the Winter Solstice.

"Even though our happy times were short, I'll treasure it deep inside my heart like those countless number of stars, forever."

The hour is getting late. The clock struck midnight long ago. I lie here on a field of fallen snow and in a daze, I gaze up. I see so many falling lights. A meteor shower bursting like a miniature firework. Silvery sparkles diving down the sky, there behind the bright star Arcturus, far from the Big Dipper.

I search the heavens up above to see if my dream is coming, though it is unusual that my one star is bright. Out of the sparkling stars winking down at me, it is very bright, even blinding with the moon smiling, but still... I can't see what I long to see. It comes down to my shoulder and says "Stop being so sad..." The warmth that holds my hand as it touches me and gives me a warm hug.

It inhales me and saturates me with her crazy passion and as it exhales me, I shoot out like a flaming comet from the constellations swirling in her eyes exploding like pyrotechnics high into the sky. Then, it drinks me in and cast me deep into her torrid rapids. My glistening wings flutter, slowly melting, shimmering silver rivulets... liquid feathers dripping into the glorious ocean of holy splendour forever free. I'm lost in her ecstasy in the center of effervescent love of her precious golden heart.

I smile as I get lost in the new universe. Only for today, I won't cry though my eyes fill with tears. I want to laugh like those stars. I want to cherish all my happy moments deep inside my heart. Like those countless number of stars... forever.

The lone flames of the softest flow of light enhances a scene that ensure comfort and reassure the hours of this starry night. Mesmerizing, hypnotizing with fascinating lure. A dance achieved precariously that is so delicate and so pure. The candles become entwined and genuine till all but one dies.

My figure rests motionless on the field of snow as I continue to see more and more stars and more and more flakes.

Whenever you see a shooting star,

there's a saying that goes...

make a wish.

All the prayers those stars hear...

yet,

their elucidative answers fall on deaf ears.

How frustrating.

If only wishers would just listen more closely...

it's a calling they'd hear.

There are no chosen ones.

No destinies...

because all are called...

but few answer...

I make a wish upon that one star and hope and pray that when I do, everything in my life will change, should that wish of mine come true. I just need my star to come through for me and there it is; my wait has ended. My shooting star... it's blazing tail afire as it grew brighter and brighter with every blink of an eye. I knew that my patience would be rewarded. Now I can sleep in peace and dream of all I desire. Taking a breath in, my eyes slowly grows tired and closes as I lay there with the last candlelight blown out.

Think of me when you watch the stars,

for I will do the same.

Light a candle in the dark,

for I will be its flame.

Blow a kiss into the night,

let the wind caress my skin.

Whisper my name before you sleep

and we'll meet where dreams begin.

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